[PRCo] Re: 42/38 on Smithfield Yellow-Green Light

[Herb Brannon]

When I first moved to Pittsburgh I took notice that some drivers did
anticipate the green signal and began their left turn just a second or two
before the green light came on. I too soon started doing this and never had
any problems with doing it. However, I have never had a moving violation in
my lifetime and like to think that I know how to drive without causing any
"occurrences" to take place. In order to make the "Pittsburgh Left" you had
to know exactly what was going on within the intersection or you would be
setting yourself and someone else up for an accident. If you knew what you
were doing this was a definite time saver while driving through the narrow,
congested streets of Pittsburgh. And yes, this turn could be made with a 40'
city transit bus.
On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 16:20, Barry, Matthew R <mrb190 at pitt.edu> wrote:

> Interesting about Boston.   Yes, what the heck does flashing green mean?
>
> Found this about the Pittsburgh yellow-green combo:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_left
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementix.org [mailto:
> pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementix.org] On Behalf Of BobDietrich
> Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 4:17 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: 42/38 on Smithfield Yellow-Green Light
>
> So if it is consistency we have why is Boston still flashing GREEN?  I saw
> that last week and almost wrecked, I didn't know what to do!!!!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementix.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementix.org] On Behalf Of Fred
> Schneider
> Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 2:31 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: 42/38 on Smithfield Yellow-Green Light
>
> It ended when the feds wanted consistency everywhere.   They never managed
> to get it everywhere ... Florida and Texas mount traffic lights
> horizontally to confuse the color blind.
>
> At the same time New York City scrapped their lights that simply went from
> green to red.   Marietta, Ohio used to have green and red lights that
> flashed red over green three times as a warning before the green went out.
> They also disappeared about the same time.   There were a lot of odd
> variants at one time.  Some cities had lights where the green was
> sequential .... started at the bottom and progressed up a ladder until it
> turned red.
> Seems to me Reading, PA had a version like that back in the 1930s or 1940s
> but it was not still around in the 1970s.
>
>
>
> On Oct 27, 2011, at 2:20 PM, Barry, Matthew R wrote:
>
> > No, Bob.  That practice ended in Pittsburgh - I  think in the late 70s.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementix.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementix.org] On Behalf Of Bob
> Rathke
> > Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 2:18 PM
> > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
> > Subject: [PRCo] Re: 42/38 on Smithfield Yellow-Green Light
> >
> >
> > Don't the traffic lights in Pittsburgh still have the overlapping
> green/yellow indication?
> >
> >
> >
> > I recall that in the 1960's Pittsburgh was one of the few (maybe the
> > only)
> city in the U.S. with overlapping traffic signals.  Also in that era,
> Canton, Ohio had simple red & green traffic signals - no yellow.
> >
> >
> >
> > Bob
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> >
> >
> > From: "Matthew R Barry" <mrb190 at pitt.edu>
> > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
> > Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 12:21:58 PM
> > Subject: [PRCo] 42/38 on Smithfield  Yellow-Green Light
> >
> > Hi Folks,
> > Take a look at this of the 42/38 on Smithfield:
> http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=275722&nseq=45
> >
> > Remember when the traffic lights used to give us "green" THEN   "green
> and
> yellow together," then "yellow," and finally "red?"    The photo
> illustrates
> the former green/yellow signal.
> >
> > Matt
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park